New Globo warming

Novela powerhouse heats up int'l accords

RIO DE JANEIRO — Brazilian broadcaster TV Globo is in advanced talks on novela co-production and programming sale accords with Spain’s Telefonica Media, and it is negotiating with broadcasters TVE of Spain and Italy’s Rettequatro.

The deals would cover sales of TV Globo telenovelas and the co-production of tailor-made novelas.

“We are negotiating new deals. Contrary to the past, we are now open to new international opportunities,” Carlos Alberto Simonetti, TV Globo’s director of international sales, told Daily Variety.

TV Globo, one of the world’s most prolific novela producers, has an enormous catalog of scripts.

It already has a co-production accord for Spanish-lingo novelas with U.S. Hispanic net Telemundo, with which it also has a $20 million, five-year output deal under which the net will air at least two dubbed Globo telenovelas a year. Telemundo is expected to announce the details of the first novela at its May 14 presentation.

Talks are advancing with Telefonica Media, Simonetti said. Telefonica already has the rights to Globo’s international hit “Terra Nostra” for its Argentinean broadcaster Telefe, which will bow the historical soap later this month.

“Terra Nostra” was a big success for Italy’s Rettequatro and also performed well in Spain — and neither market is a big consumer of novelas.

Simonetti said he recently met with Telefonica Media Latin America’s CEO Miguel Angel Miranda in Brazil to discuss new businesses.